Mildred R. and Frederick M. Mayer Library
An art research facility, the Mildred R. and Frederick M. Mayer Library collection focuses on the art of the Dallas Museum of Art while providing general information about art and art history of all periods.
The Dallas Museum of Art Archives
The Dallas Museum of Art Archives was established to preserve and administer the Museum's permanent institutional records and special collections.
Publications
The Dallas Museum of Art has published over 300 exhibition and collection catalogues. Several publications are available online. To look at older titles that are no longer available for sale, visit the Museum’s Mildred R. and Frederick M. Mayer Library.
Provenance
Provenance is the history of ownership for a work of art. Researching provenance has always been an important part of a museum's responsibility. Knowing the geographic, personal, and commercial route followed by works of art provides valuable insight into the context in which a work of art was created and exhibited over time, as well as information about the history of collecting. Documenting provenance can serve as a way of authenticating a work of art’s authorship and is an important means of establishing legal ownership of it.
The Edith O'Donnell Institute of Art History
The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History is a center for innovative research and graduate education in the history of art. Research and teaching at the O’Donnell Institute focus on artworks held in Dallas-Fort Worth collections, which together open onto a history of art that ranges across geography, chronology, and medium. The O’Donnell Institute is housed in offices at The University of Texas at Dallas and in a research center at the Dallas Museum of Art that is equipped with state-of-the-art digital art history research tools and provides unique access to DMA collections and the research resources.
Visitor Centered Research
The Dallas Museum of Art’s Framework for Engaging with Art (FEA) is based on a groundbreaking, seven-year study that provides understanding of the preferences and behaviors of museum visitors. The study and its findings led to fundamental changes in all aspects of the DMA’s practices and programs.